Description
These chai-spiced digestive and cocktail bitters can be used to help support digestion or to add a hint of chai flavor to cocktails and mocktails. They’re made with whole spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise and get their bitter flavor from dandelion and angelica roots. The whole spices are covered in plain vodka then left to steep for 3-6 weeks.
Ingredients
- 7g dried dandelion root pieces (un-roasted)
- 7g dried angelica root pieces (or more dandelion root if you don't have access to any)
- 5g cinnamon chips (i.e. broken cinnamon stick pieces)
- 5g dried ginger root pieces (don't use powdered ginger!)
- 5g whole green cardamom pods
- 5g dried orange peel
- 3g whole star anise
- 3g whole cloves
- 2g whole black peppercorns
- 1 pint jar
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups plain vodka
Instructions
Weigh out all of your herbs and add them to a clean pint-sized glass jar. To make intensely flavored cocktail bitters, cover the herbs with 1 cup of vodka. If you plan on using these as digestive support, fill the remaining space in the jar with the vodka, about 1 1/2 cups total.
Cover your jar with a lid and park it in a spot away from direct sunlight. Allow the herbs to steep, gently shaking the contents every couple of days, for 3-4 weeks for cocktail use, or, 4-6 weeks for dietary use.
When everything has steeped for your desired legthe of time, strain your bitters through a sieve or cheesecloth into a clean bottle. Label with the contents and date then use how you like! Bitters taste best when used within a year.
The best way to use these is with a dropper bottle or a bottle with a reducer cap (like you see on bottles of essential oils). Here’s a good source for those types of bottles as well as bulk medicinal and culinary herbs.
Notes
- As with any new supplements, if you plan on using these as dietary support, do so slowly to see how your body reacts. I take a small dropper-ful of digestive bitters before or after meals which is equivalent to about 20-30 drops.
- You will need a kitchen scale in order to measure out the spices and herbs accurately. I do not recommend trying to convert to volume measurements instead.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Steeping Time: 3-6 weeks